


The Mourning Bride

by TeaRoses



Category: Final Fantasy X
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-13
Updated: 2010-03-13
Packaged: 2017-10-07 23:16:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/70277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeaRoses/pseuds/TeaRoses
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Done for het_challenge on LiveJournal.  The request was "pre-game hurt/comfort set around the time of Chappu's death / when Wakka hears about it."</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Mourning Bride

Wakka has never been much for words, and on the way back to Besaid all he really wants is for people in his hometown to leave him alone and not try to talk to him about Chappu. It's already been a week since his brother died, and four days since he himself heard of it. The Sending has already been performed; they could not delay it.

He remembers seeing his parents Sent, when he was a teenager, Chappu gripping his arm and telling him that they would defeat Sin someday. And he thought they would... that, and that he would become a famous blitzball player, an idea that seems almost stupid now.

Wakka is Chappu's only living relative, and he knows they will bring him food and try to pry out his awkward grief. His teammates know him well enough to give him rough hugs and pretend not to see his tears, but the men and women at home who remember his parents will want someone to fuss over. For a moment he wonders if they have been bothering Lulu as well, but she has always known how to make people stay away.

Now he is thinking about her, and he doesn't really want to. Chappu's love for Lulu is one of the only things about him that Wakka didn't really understand. She's a beautiful woman, and intelligent as well, but she seems almost haughty and a little mysterious, preoccupied more with magic than men until she fell in love with Chappu.

After that she was still reserved, aloof, but she followed Chappu with her eyes when he was near and laughed at his jokes, even the terrible ones he heard from Wakka, and Wakka grew to care for her in the end. But she didn't really need his caring, not with Chappu there, and she probably doesn't want him around her now.

Wakka's arrival in town is less dramatic than he had feared. People greet him and his teammates, murmuring ritual words of mourning, and allow everyone to go home. Chappu's hut has been taken down according to Besaid tradition, and Wakka has to turn his face away when he passes the empty place where it once stood.

He barely has time to settle down in his own home and change out of his traveling clothes before food and consolation start arriving. People want to make him feel better. They tell him it was Sin, and no one else's fault, but he knows it was the Al Bhed machina that really killed Chappu. But he just ends up nodding and agreeing, both to keep peace and to get them to leave.

Others tell him that it's better that his parents didn't live to see this, but he doesn't agree with that either. By dusk everyone is finally gone and he sits alone with his head in his hands, finally letting himself cry now that no one can see. This has been his home forever, the only place he really knows, but without Chappu it's all empty and wrong. Those who came to comfort him told him the pain would pass with time, but right now the pain is all he has left of his brother.

Then there is a knock on the door, and he opens it to see Lulu. She is wearing a somber gray gown very unlike her usual clothing. Her face is pale and shadowed, and Wakka does not have to remind himself that she in mourning too.

When Wakka gestures her inside she enters but doesn't sit down, just stands there looking at him uncertainly.

Wakka can't decide what to say. "That's not a widow's dress," he finally blurts out. It should be a shimmering black, with white pyrefly for hope, and touch the floor.

"They wouldn't let me wear one. I was never married to Chappu."

"Chappu was going to ask you. As soon as he got home."

Lulu raises her eyebrows, and Wakka curses himself.

"And now I have to find out from you. And imagine what it might have been like, to be his wife and have his children."

"I'm sorry, Lulu. I did mean to tell you, but... not like that. And I know you're just as upset over his death as if you were married to him."

"Thank you for granting me permission to mourn my lover!" she snaps.

"That wasn't what I meant. You think I don't know how you feel?"

"It's not the same," she replies.

"No, it isn't, because I'll never have another brother, but-"

"And I'll have another lover, is that what you're thinking? That I'm picking out a new man, here in my mourning clothes?"

"Damn it, Lulu, that's not what I meant. And I don't want to have some stupid competition over who misses Chappu the most."

"Good."

Wakka just stands there looking at her, wishing she would leave and let him cry. But she doesn't, she just closes her eyes for a moment and when she opens them again her face is softer.

"I'm sorry, Wakka. I shouldn't have said that to you."

"It's all right."

"I suppose I was feeling sorry for myself. But everybody looks at me and expects me to be strong."

Wakka isn't certain what she means. "You are strong. You're one of the strongest people I've ever met. I've seen you cast fire spells on fiends that I was almost afraid to fight. I've seen you stare them down and dare them to get near you."

Lulu waves a hand dismissively. "That's magic, and those are fiends."

Wakka has always wondered if there's a more vulnerable side to Lulu, something that only Chappu saw, and now he thinks he sees it too.

"Your summoner died, and you went on. I know it's not the same. But you're a strong person."

"I thought I was. And I still think it. But when they told me the news, I cried for hours," says Lulu in a soft voice, as if she is ashamed.

"You think I didn't cry?"

"You?"

"Okay, I kept it a secret, because I was afraid people would tell me I'm a man and I'm not supposed to. But if it helps you to know... I've cried every day since it happened."

Now he's crying again, and in spite of what he just said he's not certain he wants Lulu to see. He squeezes his eyes shut, turns away, but then he feels Lulu's hand on his shoulder.

"It's all right for men to cry."

He turns around and reaches for her, pulling her against his chest, letting his tears fall into her hair. Wakka can remember happening upon a scene like this. Chappu was holding Lulu then, her head buried in Chappu's shoulder. He had seen them kiss, but somehow this was more embarrassing, to see Lulu's tenderness. And now he is the one holding her.

"It's all right for you to cry too," he says.

She doesn't though, not then, she just nestles against him and sighs. He understands much better now why Chappu loved her so much.

"You said you haven't slept. You should really go home and lie down."

"I've been lying down. But I keep having dreams that this is all a mistake and Chappu is alive again, and when I wake up... I never want to sleep again, and have to wake up and remind myself that he is dead."

Now he feels her tears on the cloth of his shirt, and he kisses the top of her head.

"You can lie down here," he says. "Not like that! I know I'm no substitute for Chappu. But you can lie down here and I'll be there when you wake up."

"People will say things."

Wakka shrugs. "Isn't it the old custom that a man marries his brother's widow?"

"I'm not Chappu's widow, and no one does that anymore."

"I know. But let people talk. I never cared about that before."

He is certain she is going to leave, but to his surprise she sits on the bed. "I can't be alone right now. I don't want you to try to be Chappu, either, but I can't go home by myself."

She lies down on the bed, stiff and silent, staring at the thatch above her, not even unbraiding her hair.

Wakka lies next to the bed, putting his travel knapsack under his head, and reaches for her hand.

"Just relax. If the dreams come, just tell Chappu you'll see him later. And when you wake up, I'll talk to you about him. Or anything else you want."

He raises his head and sees that she has closed her eyes and begun to relax.

"Just rest," he urges her.

"You know," she says in a quiet sleepy voice. "I came here to comfort you."

"And you did." He listens to her breathing slow, and when she's finally asleep, he closes his eyes.


End file.
